Definite Dealings

Last Wednesday I had to minister to a group of believers online. I used to follow a certain line of ministry teaching in sequence, but that burden was already released. Now, I need to look to the Lord for what He would like me to minister. As I prayed and considered, the Lord gave me the burden of "Clearing the Past". As I ministered, I felt very strongly the anointing of the Holy Spirit and they all listened to receive the word of God with much hunger, thirst, and conviction. After the message, I was fully satisfied, released, and even supplied myself. What I ministered was not only for them but also for me too. I also need to deal with things that need to be dealt with.

First, the example of dealing, clearing up the past, was taken from the life of the believers in Thessalonica who turned away from the idols to serve the living God.

1Th 1:9For they themselves report concerning us what kind of entrance we had toward you and how you turned to God from the idols to serve a living and true God.

Not merely physical idols we need to turn away from, but also the spiritual, mental, and materialistic idols in the hearts. Anything that replaces the true and living God in our hearts is our idol. In fact, everyone has something or the other to deal with definitely so as to serve the true and living God.

Second, Zaccheus's testimony of returning back his unrighteous tax collection to whomever he owed as a result of the Lord Jesus' visiting him and bringing his family to salvation enlightened us so much. Many Christians have entangled themselves in money matters, borrowing and not returning back, or not being faithful and righteous in money matters. If money is not handled righteously, and unrighteous money is not definitely dealt with and set right, there will not be any testimony shining from that Christian as there already was a leakage of life and loophole in his being. No wonder, many Christians are rendered "useless" as far as the testimony of Jesus is concerned.

Lk 19:8And Zaccheus stood and said to the Lord, Behold, the half of my possessions, Lord, I give to the poor, and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore four times as much.

Lk 19:9And Jesus said to him, Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham.

Third, the new believers in Ephesus, after believing into the Lord Jesus Christ forsook all their past living. They dealt with their sinful past definitely by burning all the magic books and the sinful things irrespective of the cost. That was, indeed, an excellent testimony! Anything not Christ or according to Christ and the Bible should be dealt with definitely and eradicated, burned off completely leaving no trace of it behind. This will give no ground to the enemy among the believers. Rather, it will strengthen the move of the Lord and the word of the Lord will prevail.

Ac 19:17And this became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, dwelling in Ephesus; and fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.

Ac 19:18And many of those who had believed came, confessing and making known their practices.

Ac 19:19And a considerable number of those who practiced magic brought their books together and burned them before all; and they counted up the price of them and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver.

Ac 19:20Thus, the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.

Today morning, as I was spending time with the Lord in prayer the first thing the Lord told me was to delete two apps from my mobile and block a mobile number. Initially, I tried to reason with the Lord as these were not necessarily sinful and in fact, they can be useful in some cases. But the Lord commanded me to delete them. Without further reasoning and hesitation, I took my mobile and deleted the two apps and also blocked the number of a brother who has not been mentally stable and has been trying to call me many times which did not make me feel at peace. After taking action on what the Lord commanded me, I felt so much release and freedom from the enemy's oppressive and offensive attack through these means.  But I still pray for the recovery of this brother. I felt the best shepherding I can render to him at the moment is simply to intercede for him so that the Lord would help him and recover him back to normality. I can do nothing for him now, except pray for him.

Later, in the evening as I went to pray personally, the Lord confirmed to me that with the obedience I responded to Him, the same obedience will be responded to me by the ones I have been shepherding, especially the young people. I cannot lead people to what I have not been through. I can lead people to that spiritual experience that I have already attained, never beyond. A teacher cannot teach what he does not know, he can only teach from what he already knows. I got great relief and comfort inwardly concerning a particular sister that I have been praying for and fellowshipping with, to help her out of the situation she was entangled in. I had the confirmation that the Lord had released her. May the Lord release her completely and thoroughly, even unto eternity.

This basic lesson of clearing the past, setting things right, and definitely dealing with any matter, person, or thing that needs to be dealt with, is a must for every Christian of all ages.

This is how the Lord can sanctify us wholly and preserve us completely.

1Th 5:23And the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Lord, sanctify and preserve me and all the saints for You! 

Holy Warning!

Ezk 33:1Then the word of Jehovah came to me, saying,
Ezk 33:2Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and say to them, Whenever I bring the sword upon a land and the people of the land take a man from their midst and set him up as their watchman,
Ezk 33:3And when he sees the sword come upon the land, he blows the trumpet and warns the people;
Ezk 33:4Then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and ignores the warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head.
Ezk 33:5He heard the sound of the trumpet and ignored the warning; his own blood will be on him; whereas if he had taken warning, he would have delivered his soul.
Ezk 33:6But if the watchman sees the sword come and does not blow the trumpet and the people are not warned and the sword comes and takes someone away from them, he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.
Ezk 33:7It is you, O son of man, whom I have appointed as a watchman to the house of Israel; therefore when you hear the word from My mouth, give them warning from Me.
Ezk 33:8When I say to the wicked, O wicked man, you will surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man will die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.
Ezk 33:9Yet if you warn the wicked man of his way to turn from it and he does not turn from his way, he will die in his iniquity, and you have delivered your soul.

As a shepherd and as a brother, the Lord has appointed me to be His watchman over the saints He sovereignly placed under my care. Henceforth, it is my responsibility to oversee the saints and care for their all-inclusive well-being. Trusting the Lord, I exercise myself to be faithful to this holy assignment and will do my best to live up to the Lord's appointment by His wisdom and grace.

The past couple of weeks has been a great exercise for me to take heed of the Lord's flock under my care. One of the sisters under my care has secretly been in talk and meeting with a brother. When the matter came to my notice, not by anyone informing me, but by the Lord's discerning spirit within me, I took the matter to prayer and took the necessary step I need to take right away. 

I fellowshipped with the sister first, as the matter can be solved with her. I have done it five times already in a very serious manner. I felt it was my rightful responsibility to warn her of the trick of the enemy has been enticing her into. I could see clearly an attack from Satan on the church in general and my family in particular. Therefore, after much prayer and consideration, I had to warn the sister again and again as the brother belongs to another family which I do not have the liberty to touch yet. Every time I considered the matter, I strongly felt the enemy is subtly trying his best to attack the church and destroy the saints. The gates of Hades in the flesh and unrenewed mind must be dealt with thoroughly.

Last night, after much prayer and consideration, I felt the burden of fellowship with the sister again. I strongly warned her and released my burden concerning the need for her and the brother and the families involved to be preserved from the attack of the enemy. I literally begged her to pay heed to the parently and brotherly love fellowship I rendered to her. I even reasoned with her to wake up and come out of blindness and darkness to see things clearly and stay away from being the bait of the enemy. As I released my genuine burden from deep within with much concern and fellowship. As I did so, she began to weep and could not utter a word. She did agree to my intimate concern for her. I know she was emotionally stuck, but the Lord can heal her and deliver her completely. 

After the fellowship, I prayed for the Lord's cover grace and mercy that she be supplied with much life, an abundant life supply, to overcome the situation she is involved in. And I also prayed for all the other saints involved in this matter that the Lord would cover each one and would not allow the enemy to do anything to any of us. As I finished my prayer, she tried to pray and could not but burst into tears. Deep within I realized she had received the message I had spoken to her. I felt my burden was fully released and trust the Lord who spoke to also give us the grace to accomplish what was spoken. I also apologized if I had spoken too much to hurt her, as I did not mean it, but out of much care and concern I did so. I hope and trust that she understood my burden and will pay heed to it.

Later, I spent about half an hour continuing to pray for her and bind the enemy that binds the brother and sister involved. Then I read a book on the humanity of Christ and was inwardly confirmed that the Lord Jesus Christ had already crushed the serpent at his head. We, the church, the Body of Christ, also in oneness with Christ the Head, crushed the enemy's head subjectively to victory!  Now I have done what the Lord burdened me to do. I trust in the Lord and continue to follow up in prayer.

Today morning and after lunch, I was deeply burdened to pray for this matter again and released my burden to the Lord. Thus far, I have done my best to warn those who need to be warned. I exercised myself to be faithful in watching over the souls of the saints the Lord appointed me as a watchman. The Lord will do His work and the defeated enemy will be manifestly defeated over and over again!

Lord, make me a faithful watchman to sound out the holy warning on time and maintain the victory the Lord Jesus Christ had accomplished at the cross.

Zion, the Overcomers

In typology in the Old Testament Zion was the city of King David (2 Sam. 5:7), the center of the city of Jerusalem, where the temple as God’s dwelling place on earth was built (Psa. 9:11; 2:6; 74:2; 76:2b; 125:1; 135:21; Isa. 8:18).  In fulfillment and reality, Zion is the overcomer in the local churches today. It is not enough for a Christian to simply be saved, nor is it enough for him to be in a denomination. And still, it is also not enough to be recovered into the proper ground of oneness in a local church. But much more, we must pray and pay the price to be overcomers to be today's Zion without which God has no real testimony through which He can fulfill His divine purpose. Therefore, Zion is the ultimate need today to meet God's needs.

And  I saw, and behold, the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him a hundred and forty four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads. Rev. 14:1

Today God is looking for the one hundred and forty-four thousand amidst the defeated church, who will stand on Mount Zion (Rev. 14). God always uses a small number of believers to pass on the flow of life to the church and to revive the church. As the Lord has done once before, so these overcomers have to pour out their blood before life can flow out to others. On behalf of the church, the overcomers take the stand of victory and also suffer tribulation and despising. Thus, the overcomers of God need to give up what they consider as right. They have to pay the price and allow the cross to cut off all the old creation and deal with the gates of Hades (Matt. 16:18).

Are you willing to endure heartache to gain the heart of God? Are you willing to let yourself be defeated so that the Lord can be the Victor? When your obedience is fulfilled, God will deal with all disobedience (2 Cor. 10:6). (CWWN, vol. 11, pp. 762-763)

The above excerpt from Watchman Nee touched my being so deeply. To be today's Zion, the most important thing is to pay the price.

Lift up your heads, O gates; and be lifted up, O long enduring doors; and the King of glory will come in. We all must be so open to the Lord. Psa. 24:7

We all have to endeavor to reach this high peak. If you think it is too hard to reach this high peak and that the price to pay is too high, be prepared. We surely need to be desperate to pray at any cost and to pay the cost just as the apostle Paul did. There is no other way to reach this high peak except by praying. (HWMR 1 & 2 Kings, msg 10)

The price to pay is to spend time with the Lord in prayer. I released my burden to the church on the need for everyone to spend specific time of prayer every day, at least 15 minutes, 30 minutes, or even an hour of solid sweet time of prayer with the Lord. In this way, we are opening the door for the Lord to come in and do what he needs to do in us to make us His overcomers.

Moreover, there is a need to pay the price of receiving the word of God with prayer. The word is nourishing and the or is also slaying. The word provides spiritual nourishment and it also kills all the germs within our being.

And that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind.  Eph. 4:23

That He might sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing of the water in the word, that He might present the church to Himself glorious, not having spot or wrinkle or any such things, but that she would be holy and without blemish. We need to experience the killing power of God’s word.  Eph. 5:26-27 

As we pray-read, we are nourished on the one hand, but certain elements are killed on the other hand. Perhaps you are troubled by doubts, hatred, jealousy, pride, or selfishness…The more we take in the word with its killing power, the more our pride and all the negative elements within us are put to death. By pray-reading, the inward adversary is slain…by the word we have taken into us. The battlefield for the spiritual warfare…is within us; in particular it is in our mind…The way to slay the adversary in our mind is to pray-read the word. As we pray-read God’s word, the elements of the adversary within our mind will be killed one by one. In this way we shall gain the victory…When the negative things in us are killed through pray-reading, the Lord is victorious. Because He is victorious, we are victorious  also.  (HWMR 1 & 2 Kings, msg 10)

The result of paying the price will be victory!  

Psalm 132 mentions seven precious items related to the overcomers in their going up to Zion; these items are at the top of the church life, and they portray the situation of the overcomers in Zion, the highest peak of God’s mountain—vv. 13-18.

1. Resting with God—“This is My resting place forever”—v. 14a.
2. Dwelling with God—“Here will I dwell, for I have desired it”—v. 14b.
3. Food for satisfaction—“I will abundantly bless its provision; I will satisfy its poor with bread”— v. 15.
4. Glorious clothing—“Its priests I will clothe with salvation, / And its faithful ones will shout with a ringing shout”—v. 16; cf. Exo. 28:2.
5. The horn of victory—“There I will cause a horn of David to shoot forth”—Psa. 132:17a.
6. The enlightening lamp—“I have prepared a lamp for My anointed one”—v. 17b. 

7. The shining crown—“I will clothe his enemies with shame, / But on him his crown will shine”— v. 18; cf. Isa. 62:3.  (HWMR 1 & 2 Kings, msg 10) 

I have released the Lord's burden for the saints in the church in Gurugram. The meeting was so high and we all could feel the intensity of the Lord's timely speaking and His desire to take us forward and make us all His vicotoious overcomers. In fact, from today we have a new beginning in the way we meet and the next generation service groups were practically carried out. 

Lord, make us all Your Zion, Your overcomers! This is Your recovery. Recover us fully in Your victory!

Two Saturdays

The last two Saturdays taught me a very important life lesson. The previous Saturday I was in Chennai and somehow I took it for granted the normal schedule of the church in Gurugram due to the fact that I was out stationed in Chennai. Therefore, I did not join the brothers' fellowship in the morning. I missed a lot by skipping this. 

Though I had an afternoon appointment with the brother in the church in Chennai and the brothers serving the work in India, I decided to go see the land I purchased in 2014. According to my estimation, I could just go and come back on time for the fellowship. But the road was full of traffic jams, then it rained that forcing us to stop in between until the rain subsided, and then the bike we rode had a problem with the brake, slowing our speed down, and later we halted for about two hours to repair the brake. Then I missed the Saturday afternoon prayer over the phone with two brothers, and I also missed to attend physically the fellowship with the brothers in Chennai.  I had the heart to go for gospel preaching but we came back very late in the evening. Therefore, many important meetings I missed on Saturday. Later, as I reconsidered how things went too bad the whole day the simple reason being, my heart was not proper towards my responsibility as a brother; I excused myself so easily from important things just for the fact that I was out stationed, which was a fact. 

Last Saturday, I was very exercised in my spirit. As we fellowshipped, I felt the need to address the need of tightening the screw of our church life and services.  So we reconsidered all the service items one by one and also rescheduled the various meetings on the Lord's day. We all just felt like the Lord came and set all things right. We were shaken up for good for the going on of the church. Then I had my Bible reading time, followed by prayer and physical exercise, then the church prayer meeting for an hour and a half, and gospel preaching for two hours. After which I went to spend time in prayer again, clean up the house, took bath, and rested.

These two Saturdays were an example of losing and gaining according to the condition of my heart. On the first Saturday, my heart was complacent about the things of God and I did not take the schedule seriously. Therefore, I lose much. On the second Saturday, I readjusted my attitude and took the service of the Lord seriously which led to my whole day being truly blessed.

In fact, as we were preaching the gospel, I determined to honor the fellowship of the church to spend at least two hours for gospel preaching. The Lord indeed blessed our gospel preaching and we could preach the gospel to at least five people solidly. The Lord also led us to two professional footballers who just visited Gurugram. We believe the Lord brought them to us and pray that we could meet them again and bring them to the Lord fully.

These two Saturdays taught me the need for a proper attitude toward the Lord's service. I should not neglect the work of the Lord.

Cursed is he who does the work of Jehovah negligently, And cursed is he who keeps his sword from blood. Jeremiah 48:10

But if I have a proper attitude toward God's service, then the blessing is all mine.

Blessed is the man who trusts in Jehovah and whose trust Jehovah is.

And he will be like a tree transplanted beside water, Which sends out its roots by a stream, And will not be afraid when heat comes; For its leaves remain flourishing, And it will not be anxious in the year of drought And will not cease to bear fruit. Jeremiah 17:7-8

Fellowship with Young People

Rejoice, young man, in your childhood, and let your heart be merry in the days of your youth; and walk in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you to judgment. So remove vexation from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh; for childhood and the dawn of life are vanity.  

Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, I have no pleasure in them;”

(Ecclesiastes 11:9-12:1, RecVer)

The Lord has burdened me to shepherd the college students and the young people. I had been handing over this responsibility to some other serving ones. But recently I realized that I need to pick up this burden and perfect the young ones. 

On my first renewed fellowship with the college student, I encouraged all the young ones to spend at least 15 minutes of personal prayer every day and read at least one chapter of the Bible. Once they were done they have to update it in the WhatsApp group. Besides, I also encourage them to have a separate morning revival for sisters and brothers with a sister and a brother helping them on a daily basis. This has been going on for weeks now.

Today, we had a time of fellowship again and I release my burden concerning our person, and our need to be sanctified from all kinds of distractions that may plague the young ones. More practically, to deal with all kinds of affairs and relationships, to consecrate them all to the Lord and break all unwanted ties, if any. They must also work hard in their studies so that they all could be outstanding students. And by their living testimonies, they can bring at least one student to the Lord before they graduate from college or university. I also encourage them to make a spiritual progress record book, a spiritual diary, and perhaps, write an article or essay based on their experiences and enjoyment of the Lord. 

Besides, young people being so vulnerable to the enemy's temptation, we pray-read 

And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.  Mt 6:13a

Only the Lord can preserve all the young ones from the temptation and the attack of the enemy. Later, when I went before the Lord to pray concerning the young ones and the burden I fellowshipped, the Lord gave me further burden as a follow-up on whatever we fellowshipped which I posted on the group.

As per today's fellowship, let us all maintain our daily spiritual progress record.

Please buy a good note book for Spiritual Diary.

You may record with date your experiences and enjoyment of the Lord. What the Lord spoke to you, convicted you of, your repentance and confession, and the dealings of your inward being. You may bring this record for the young people meeting and to the church meeting, to record into, or, to speak from.

You may also record your prayer burdens, name list of your family members or friends or classmates whom the Lord burdened you to pray for. 

Once your experiences are solid, you may write an article or an essay with scriptural verses of your experiences and enjoyment of the Lord. If you wish, you can blog them using your Gmail account.

Remember, all that you possess; your life, education, qualification, job, money, property, etc., will all vanish one day. 

Only your gaining of Christ, your experiences and enjoyment of Christ will last unto eternity. So, record these as your spiritual treasures for yours and for others benefit. Perhaps, the Lord may use these one day.

You can use your spiritual record for shephering others in need. And sharing with the saints whenever we meet. You may feel free to share with us, serving ones, if the Lord leads you so.

Remember, the Lord's work is our person. If our person is proper and gained by the Lord, everything we do will be proper and blessed by the Lord. Otherwise, we will only become problem to ourself, our family, and even to the church. 

May the Lord grace us all.

Let us run our Christian race together...

Ministry of the Word in Chennai

The Lord sovereignly brought me to Chennai as an answer to my brother who requested me to coordinate with him for a few days to visit all the leading Christian bookstores, Bible colleges, and Christian groups. Through an untoward incident I landed up in Chennai and I felt good to extend my stay and carry out the distribution of the ministry of the word.

Since the past three days, I have been coordinating with the serving one in Chennai to visit all the Christian bookstores in Chennai. Though it was all an impromptu and rather surprise visits, all the managers welcomed us and placed order for display and sales in their bookstores. All the managers were prepared by the Lord to pay heed to what we had to say concerning the ministry books. I basically picked up the burden to introduce the Holy Bible Recovery Version to all the managers and key person in a very specific and special way. Whenever I did so, I also enjoyed the Lord's anointing so much; the word of God just flowed out like streams of living water! In fact, the managers that I introduced the Bible too were all very impressed and they all decided to place order for the Bible.

On top of that, we also received favor from the Lord who granted us favor in the sight of all these managers to willing receive the ministry books by Brother Watchman Nee and Witness Lee. In fact, in one of the biggest congregations in the city we met the key brother, who heads up the literature service, who was so touched by the depth and liveliness of the ministry literature that he decided to take the Bibles and books after consulting with his pastors. Having enjoyed the flow of life, he asked me a question on "the dead burying the dead." I replied by explaining the spiritual significance of following the Lord without any one in between, be it their natural father or whoever. When one decides to follow the Lord, no person, matter or thing should come in between. One must absolutely follow the Lord. I backed up what I said with my own testimony of following the Lord against the wish of many parents in 2003, and now how they have understood me and felt blessed by my following the Lord.

This coordination with my brother has also been a great source of encouragement to him. He has been struggling to effectively discharge his duty. But now, he could foretaste that the ministry indeed is prevailing despite some oppositions. Now that our Chennai office been filled with books, it literally has become a Godown. These many books need to be distributed at the earliest. In fact, I suggested that within a year all these could be sold out. The many books printed are for the supply of spiritual food to all the children of God; they are not meant for stocking.

By the way, all these visitations to Christian bookstores were done by two-wheeler. I simply followed my brother's suggestion and did not give any opinion. What he felt best, I amen. I learn to follow without exerting my opinion. And it turned out to be the most effective way of distribution. Even though there was a heavy downpour, we still could manage on a bike with umbrella. And I made use of the long pillion ride, due to water clogging on the road, for a time of prayer and listening to the life-study radio messages. It was quite a wonderful time of coordination and time well spent. We have done our best to make the spiritual food available through the Christian bookstores. 

May the lakhs of Christians in Chennai be blessed with the healthy teaching and faithful word of the ministry. May the Lord bring His children to discover these truths and be blessed. Chennai for Christ and the church!

Time with Serving Ones

Yesterday, I had a time with all the serving ones in the literature service in Chennai. It was after a couple of years that I came to this city and fellowship with my fellow serving ones. My burden was to simple pray together, fellowship whatever the Lord leads, listen to what the saints have to say, and enjoy lovefeast together with the burden of blending and building up one another. I did this whenever I visited Chennai.

As we came together at our office building, we enjoyed singing the hymn composed by Brother Benson Philips and his wife, hymn number 1212. Then I shared what I learned from Brother Benson Philips on the matter of "listening to the Body" as we pray-read Act 9:1-18. 

Ac 9:5And he said, Who are You, Lord? And He said, I am Jesus, whom you persecute.

Ac 9:6But rise up and enter into the city, and it will be told to you what you must do.

As we pray-read the above verses, I was enlightened and supplied by the words "Lord, Jesus, persecute, rise up" and the phrase, "it will be told to you."

I know the Lord in truth, but do I subjectively know Him as my Lord in my daily living? He should be the Lord over my whole being, over all my life, and all that I have. Often, I replaced Him with me as my "lord." When I replaced the Lord with me a lord, I am persecuting Him. What a serious offense! The Lord should be my Lord indeed, all the time. Therefore, I repented for this sin of usurping His lordship over me. This Lord is Jesus, Jehovah the Savior! Therefore, I prayed that the Lord would save me from not making Him my Lord. 

Inspite of my sins, failures, and weaknesses, I can always rise up from my fallen condition. Turn to Him, exercise my spirit to enjoy His resurrection and rise up. When I rise up to follow Him, He will tell me what I should do through the members of His Body.

What a sweet time of pray-reading and prayer together. After we all prayed for ourselves and the serving ones for our services in particular, and the service of to the Body in general, we had lunch together followed by some practical fellowship concerning our health, financial management, and the need for both life and health insurance. This matter of insurance was triggered by recent demise of one of our serving ones who did not seem to have any insurance. Had he been insured his family could have been relieved financially a little bit.

May the Lord preserve all the serving ones that He may grace us with longevity in our service and also in our human life that we can gain more Christ unto full maturity to be His overcomers.